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Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Orange Paris

Is the weekly Metro pass, the Carted'Orange's color influenced by Paris' most famous orange brand,Hermés?I had an orange encounter with Hermés, 2 years ago in Bordeaux. I went in to see the calligraphy exhibit upstairs and then bought a sparkly eye pencil. They gave me a GIP (gift with purchase!) - a wonderful pendent promoting their new cologne, Eau des Merveilles. I thought it was filled with water. Then 2 months ago a french parfumeur came in the store and noticed it. When I said it was water, she was shocked. Hermés would NEVER put water in their products! She miraculously opened the stopper I'd couldn't open for 2 years and I got my 1st sniff of this delicate fragrance. Notes of Bitter Orange.Whenever anyone notices the pendent I put a dab on their wrist and share what I've been missing for 2 years :)

Orange is a "secondary" color on the color wheel as is green and purple. The Primaries are Red/ Yellow/ Blue. Orange, which is made from Red + Yellow, is therefore in the 2nd ring on the wheel, yet Orange can be more assertive then red at times. Look at the oranges in the market.Put Orange next to Blue and you've got a powerful pair of complimentary colors that enhance each other. Cacao et Chocolat has cleverly done this.Champagne Veuve Clicquot wants it known that their brand color is Yellow NOT Orange.They used to have a huge 1961 Bentley Continental Flying Spur in that color for VIPs. No more. Just YELLOW delivery vans now.I went almost daily to one of 2 cyber cafes on rue d'Odessa near Gare Montparnasse. Both had orange cards and orange decor in the American cafe - see above. For the record, as a kid my favorite foods were orange-colored, carrots and orange slices (the candies + the fruit). Bacon was included in that food group. I've outgrown that obsession but there's still a lot of orange in Paris.Here is my friend, Michèle dressed in Parisneutrals with a splash of ORANGE. Her favorite traiteur, Gérard Mulot makes orange cakes...